Fall Rain: Central Park

The all-day rain scraped the leaves
From the fall-tint trees,
And, without a thought,
Discarded them.

The scales of orange and umber
Had become clown rags,
Streaked with makeup
And tossed away.

Published November 28, 2014 in the New York Times: 
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/fall-rain-central-park/

The Compleat Taxi Chaser

The first thing you notice is
The confluence of traffic,
The onrush of day-lit chrome.
You hear horns blaring –
They burst, leap like salmon
At the dam of stops and starts.

And then you hear the curse –
The curse of the angler
Waist high in this torrent,
Trying to catch a big-mouth cab.

     Published, New York Times: 

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/the-compleat-taxi-chaser/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Fall 2014

The neighborhood trees

After the rain

Are losing investment.

Their brown-and-green

Ticker tape

Now lies on the ground.

Mosaic

You are high-born -

A woman I saw in

Lapis, alabaster, chalcedony.

An elegant Byzantine

Who, over her smooth

Polished shoulder,

Looked back at me.

You looked at me

With your almond eyes

Of rare inlay,

Your half-smile serene,

Your scarf red and gold.

And you reached to me,

Your fingertips

Grazing my cheek.

"Mirror Watercolors - Field and Stream"

Watercolor; Japanese paper; lacquer

Cloud

A chalky streak on blue sky.

A vapor.  More imagination​

Than substance. 

Hamlet knew this, knowing dreams

Are ethereal.

City Night Lights & Mountain

(Olympus Stylus)

"Overnight"

Paintbox watercolor; lacquer, Japanese paper

It Was Very Early

It was very early.  

The aftermath - the dream litter -

Could be seen in the streets.

The New York City morning

Could not be diagnosed as yet.

Its pulse flickered in between

What was and what will be.

It lay still, like a coma sleeper,

On its bed of concrete.

Awake (After a Dream)

Sunlight chimes morning and

Shatters glass.  Shards of window

Break and fall.  Pieces of day

Cover sidewalks, like leaves

After a cold rain.  Memory is now

Broken.  White-hot flecks

Steam and evaporate,

Tossed apart on the cement.

Anniversary Poem

Window & Spring

Watercolor, marker, ink, lacquer, Japanese paper

Venice Sunset In September

(Olympus Stylus 740)

Low Tide, Winter Sun

(Olympus Stylus 740)

City Snow Thought/Connection

I saw a sign stuck in dirty, ice-fused snow,

The sooty mess piled high by sightless plow.

Cardboard swiveled on a broom handle

Like the helmet on a G.I. rifle.


Fresh snow and history-memory swirled.

Like G.I. scrawl it said “For the snow deprived".

                               
                                * * *

Desert Thunderhead

Watercolor, ink, lacquer
on Japanese paper

Winter Morning - New Mexico

 The water in the oak bucket
Unfroze this morning.

The poplar ladle floated up,

Still holding the silver

Of last night's winter moon.

***



Bleached Wood - New Mexico

(Pinhole Camera)

Morning - New Mexico Mountains



(Pinhole Camera)